One Of The World's Biggest Retailers Is Coming Down Under

Global sporting goods retailer Decathlon plans to roll out about 100 stores across Australia starting with Sydney in October.

The company announced on Tuesday that its flagship store in Tempe - next to the city's most central Ikea store - is expected to open its doors before Christmas.

Further store openings are expected in Melbourne next year, followed by other cities with an ultimate plan to have 100 of its big-box stores across Australia in the long term.

Chief executive Olivier Robinet said Australia was an attractive market partly because it has some of the world's most active people.

"Our priority is to offer a low-cost product that matches up to the big-name brand competitors in quality," he said.

He said the company was also focused on innovative designs with research and development teams across France that register up to 40 patents a year.

Decathlon stores house more than 7,000 different products and will directly compete with Australia's two biggest sport gear and apparel retailers, Rebel and Amart Sports - both owned by the Super Retail Group.

It is among a string of overseas retailers that have chosen to expand to Australia, including Amazon, UK department stores John Lewis and Debenhams and American retailer The TJX companies.

A Deloitte report in January said 39 of the world's top 250 retailers operate in Australia due to the country's strong economic conditions, high consumer demand for international brands and proximity to Asia.